Attorney General on Protection of Copyright

In a recent speech, the Attorney General outlined some of his views on protection for copyright and other intellectual property. In his speech to the Australian International Movie Convention on 14 October 2013, the Attorney General made the following comments about intellectual property: As a lawyer and as a policy-maker, it is my strong belief […]

September 2, 2013

Sandy Grant’s Address to NZ Publishers

The following is an excerpt from a speech delivered by Copyright Agency Chair, Sandy Grant at the NZ Publishers AGM on 18 July 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand. “I am going to talk today wearing two hats – I am speaking as the Chair of Australia’s collective licensing agency, the Copyright Agency, and as the […]

June 27, 2013

Online Copyright Reform Discussion Board: Have your Say

As part of its inquiry into copyright and the digital economy, the Australian Law Reform Commission has launched an online discussion board on when it is ‘fair’ to use someone else’s content without their permission. In its Discussion Paper released on 5 June, the ALRC proposed that Australian copyright legislation be amended to introduce a […]

June 4, 2013

What’s wrong with Copywrong

A new website asserts that ‘Australia’s copyright laws are out of touch with the digital world’ and gives a list of ‘examples’. Unfortunately, a number of the ‘examples’ are unsubstantiated, and inconsistent with the facts. ‘example’ facts Australian schools pay up to four times more in copyright fees to deliver education using digital technologies than […]

April 17, 2013

A Copy a Day Keeps Creators in Pay

More than a billion pages of copyrighted material are being photocopied or used electronically by schools and universities for teaching every year. Copyright Agency’s Manager of Surveys & Monitoring, James Tweed, says the agency’s annual surveys capture a sample of how much and what is being copied or shared digitally so that creators, such as […]

April 11, 2013

Statutory Licence a Win-Win for Students and Creators

Authors want to make enough of a living to be able to continue to create original Australian works to be enjoyed by students and the community at large, participants at the recent Copyright Agency Seminar Education:Information, heard. Author, teacher and parent, Angelo Loukakis, told the seminar the ideal situation was for children to have access […]

April 2, 2013

US Court Holds Google’s Book Digitisation is ‘Fair Use’

On 14 November, Judge Denny Chin held that Google’s digitisation of millions of books was ‘fair use’ under US copyright law. The decision (available here) is the latest development in the protracted legal process since authors and publishers initially took legal action against Google in 2005. Authors’ and publishers’ representatives reached a ‘class action’ settlement […]

February 27, 2013

Jail Time for NZ Copyright Infringement

The sun goes down on New Zealand karaoke business owner Desmond Adams, convicted and jailed for onselling music files that breach New Zealand copyright. As the owner of 1st Choice Karaoke in Rotorua, Mr Adams provided karaoke as well as DJ equipment throughout New Zealand. He also operated two websites with international sales reported to […]